Violence Against Women Act

By: Family Violence Prevention Fund

The first comprehensive federal legislation responding to violence against women was introduced in 1990. While the U.S. Senate held several hearings and reported bills out of committee, not until the 103rd Congress was there finally traction on the issue in both the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. With the help of outspoken advocates across the country, including the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF) and other members of the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was finally signed into law in August of 1994 as a part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (PL-103-322).

The provisions included in the Act were a compromise of two pieces of legislation that had been introduced previously, H.R. 1133, introduced by Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-CO), and S. 1607, introduced by Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE). VAWA created:

- new penalties for gender-related violence and
- new grant programs encouraging states to address domestic violence and sexual assault including:

• law enforcement and prosecution grants (STOP grants)
• grants to encourage arrest
• rural domestic violence and child abuse enforcement grants
• the National Domestic Violence Hotline
• grants to battered women's shelters

While no one felt this completely addressed the needs of victims of domestic violence, almost all involved believed this was a vital first step in our nation's efforts to treat domestic violence as a serious problem. VAWA was reauthorized in 2000. Currently, advocates in Washington, DC and across the nation are working hard to see that the programs authorized in VAWA are fully funded.

The Violence Against Women Act of 2000

Background

Because the authorization for the original VAWA provisions expired in 2000, the Congress took up the reauthorization of this landmark legislation in 1999 and completed its efforts in the fall of 2000 with the passage of the Violence Against Women Act of 2000. The House version of the bill, known as H.R. 1248, passed on September 26 by a vote of 415-3, and the Senate version, known as S. 2787 passed on October 11 by a vote of 95-0. During the course of final negotiations, VAWA 2000 was merged with the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and several smaller bills, and President Clinton signed the legislation into law on October 28, 2000 (PL-106-386).

Despite early efforts by advocates and congressional allies to create a more comprehensive bill, the final version of VAWA reauthorization included mainly a continuation of already existing programs with a few improvements, additions and funding increases. A complete section by section summary has been developed by the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women and may be found at www.nowldef.org. The following is a summary of the major components of the legislation.

VAWA 2000 Summary

• Total Authorization: $3.3 billion over five years (This number represents the total amount authorized, the actual money distributed has yet to reach this “allowed” amount).
• STOP Grants (Services and Training for Officers and Prosecutors): $925 million over five years. This is the largest portion of the funding in the legislation and goes to states to be distributed among police, prosecutors, courts and state and local victims services agencies mainly for the purposes of enhancing law enforcement activities.
• Shelter Services for Battered Women and their Children: $875 million over five years. This is the second largest portion of funding from the bill and funds programs to help communities provide services for women and children living in shelters. These grants also go initially to the states, and recent legislation increased the minimum amount that any state would receive to $600,000/year. Remaining funds are distributed to states based on their populations.

The legislation also created new programs and strengthened existing legislation in the following areas:

• Civil Legal Assistance: $200 million over five years. This section creates a separate grant program for civil legal services to give women legal help with protection orders, family court matters, housing, immigration and administrative matters.
• Transitional Housing: $25 million per year but only for one year. This program provides grants to aid individuals who are "homeless, in need of transitional housing or other housing assistance, as a result of fleeing a situation of domestic violence and for whom emergency shelter services are unavailable or insufficient." This program was never funded.
• Supervised Visitation Centers: $30 million over two years for pilot project authorizing the Attorney General to provide grants to state and local law enforcement to provide supervised visitation exchange for the children of victims of domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault.
• Full Faith and Credit: Allows for protection orders from one state to be recognized in another state and allows Grants to Encourage Arrest to go toward providing technical assistance and computer or other equipment to law enforcement to aid in the enforcement of interstate protection orders and those between state and tribal jurisdictions.
• Battered Immigrant Women: Legislation addressing the needs of battered immigrant women was by far the most significant addition to the original VAWA. This section removes the U.S. residency requirement and "extreme hardship" requirements for immigrant women to receive VAWA protections; allows battered immigrant women to obtain lawful permanent residence without leaving the country; restores access to VAWA protections for immigrants regardless of how they entered the country and creates a new type of visa for victims of serious crimes that will allow some to attain lawful permanent residence.
• Dating Violence: defines dating violence and allows grants to go toward programs that address dating violence
• Services for Disabled and Older Women: $25 million over five years to provide grants for training law enforcement and developing policies to address the needs of older and disabled victims of domestic and sexual violence

Finally, the legislation requires that several studies be conducted. The Attorney General must conduct a study of state laws addressing insurance discrimination against victims of domestic violence, access to unemployment compensation for victims, and a national survey of programs demonstrating appropriate workplace responses to victims of domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault.

VAWA Reauthorization 2005

The next reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act will be in 2005. The Family Violence Prevention Fund is working with other national advocacy organizations to craft the next VAWA legislation.

VAWA Prevent: Adding Prevention to the New Violence Against Women Act

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994 was a critical first step in improving the criminal justice system’s response to violence against women. The reauthorization of VAWA in 2000 continued this work and added important services for immigrant, rural, disabled and older women. But no funding or programs were put in place to actually prevent violence or meet the needs of children who were living in families with domestic violence -- those at high risk for growing up to become both victims and perpetrators of domestic and sexual violence.

The nation has made remarkable progress over the past 25 years in recognizing that domestic violence is a crime, providing legal remedies, social supports and coordinated community responses. Yet millions of families continue to be traumatized by abuse, leading to increased rates of crime, violence and suffering. Now it is time to prevent violence against women and children and its devastating costs and consequences by committing to a four-part strategy focused on children, youth and men.

Congress must include measures that will prevent violence against women and children in the next reauthorization of VAWA. Preventing domestic violence isn’t just about helping women and children, it’s about ending crime and violence more broadly by going to the roots of that violence --- the home.

Specifically, the prevention provisions we propose to include in the new Violence Against Women Act would:

1. Provide services for children who have or are currently living in homes with domestic violence, including supports for the non-abusing parent;

2. Provide services and supports for young families, often those at greatest risk of family and community violence, to help them develop strong parenting skills and ensure the safety of all family members. This would include integrating domestic violence training and education into already existing programs such as home visitation, fatherhood, mentoring and prisoner re-entry;

3. Develop, test and implement programs to help teens develop respectful, nonviolent relationships, including public education campaigns targeting boys and men; and

4. Fund training for workers at Head Start, after-school and other programs serving children, so they can identify, help and, when appropriate, refer families experiencing violence to the social service agencies that can help.